Colombian escaped from rebels saw US hostages

BOGOTA, May 17 (Reuters) A Colombian police officer kidnapped by leftist rebels nearly nine years ago said he escaped last month from a jungle camp where he had been held hostage with three US defense contract workers and French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt.

Jhon Frank Pinchao told reporters yesterday he walked for 17 days through the jungle before he was found by a police patrol.

Guerrillas from the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, or FARC, kidnapped the three Americans in 2003 when their light aircraft crashed on a drug eradication mission.

REUTERS DS PM1037